SANTIAGO, Chile – A new episode of disqualification in tennis occurred this week at the Santiago ATP Challenger, and Renzo Olivo, its protagonist, the day after speaks about the way officials and the ATP handle the situation: “I feel it’s an abuse of power”.
The Argentine, 286th in the world spoke to CLAY after he was disqualified this Monday in the first round of the event in Chile. “The referee made the situation worse. The match was calm, the other one (Brazilian Orlando Luz) was playing very well and I was raising my level. To call a touch to the net where I didn’t, on a break point, has to come from someone who has bad intentions. Saying this I want to try to be as respectful as possible,” he says about the Brazilian referee Rafael Maia.
After losing the point, Olivo grabbed his head and shouted to his coach “He (the umpire) is a delinquent!”. He then showed the judge the mark on the clay that showed how far from the net his foot had gone: “If it is something that touched it could have been the dust because here my foot was buried and it is like the dust was removed a little bit forward. It is a very big mistake on his part”.
Meanwhile, in Santiago de Chile, a new default in a tennis match: “he called me touch… he is a thief”, said Renzo Olivo before receiving a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct and then defaulted from the match by the supervisor 😳
— Clay (@_claymagazine) March 12, 2024
Olivo accuses that Maia made the episode worse with “irony”, “lies” and “provocations”.
“I had instant reactions that I do not justify. I said what I said to my trainer, not directly to the judge as he pointed out to the supervisor. But that reaction is born from his terrible ruling. I take responsibility for my mistake, but I don’t know who takes responsibility for the referees’ mistake,” claims the former world 78.
“What made the situation worse was that as soon as I start talking to the referee, he provokes me, he talks in a sarcastic way. He also tells the supervisor that I said (the word “delinquent”) to his face. That is a lie. If the referee had reacted differently, I might not have acted the way I did. I’m going to ask him not to referee me anymore because something always happens and it’s like he made it personal on his part, because it’s like he always makes me feel that way. If a referee can’t control his emotions, he’s screwed. The player is usually the one who is overcome by emotions because his adrenaline is high and the referee is the one who should handle the situation calmly from his chair,” he adds.
The scene included a kick by Olivo to the side of the referee’s chair, without aggression to the official.
In addition to the default, as the rules indicate, he was disqualified from the doubles draw. “I found out at night that I was taken away from the doubles without warning me. Now I will also have to pay a fine, which seems totally unfair to me. The situation is completely painful because I made the mistake, I paid with default, I paid with the doubles, and on top of that I have to pay a fine,” he tells CLAY.
“So much punishment to the players I feel it is an abuse of power by the ATP and the referees. We don’t have any kind of defense,” Olivo shoots.
The monetary sanction can be a maximum of USD 10,000.
